The Power of One Person
A near constant when I attend meetings with other groups is that at
least one person will comment that they wish that their group or
neighborhood were as well organized as the BPA. I hear from
organizations many time our size who are bowled over by the content
and layout of our newsletters, not to mention its size. Others are
envious of the amount of useful information that we push out on our
email lists and web site.

This is not just me  other BPA Board members report similar
comments. Nor is it new  our predecessors reported similar
experiences.

And this continues to be surprising to us because we know how much
more could, and should, be done if only. . . The conclusion to be
drawn is that one person can have an outsized impact in these areas.

In the case of some events, an event succeeds or dies on the basis of
the commitment and enthusiasm of a single person who energizes all
the other volunteers who work on the event. For example, the Holiday
Parade and Caroling has become a major event due to the leadership of
Don Anderson.

Conversely, the House and Garden Tour died even though it was quite
popular with participants  the original key organizer (Shirley
Finfrock) decided to move on and there was no one who would step up
and push for the event to happen.

Last June, when the City's telephone alert system was used to alert a
portion of Barron Park to possible sightings of mountain lions, the
BPA Emergency Prep chair Patrick Muffler used the BPA email list to
collect information about how well that system worked, and provided
it to the Police Department. Even though that system has been used
several times since, this is still the only assessment of that system
in a real-world environment.

On the downside, the Police Dept. has been slow to follow-up on the
deficiencies identified. Still, Patrick has become recognized
City-wide as the "point man" on the larger issue: Improving and
expanding the mechanisms that the Police and Fire Departments use to
notify residents. Aside: in the process we discovered that the
telephone alert systems has a number of legal constraints on when it
can be used  constraints that prevented it from being used
after one mountain lion sighting.

During one recent controversy involving multiple neighborhoods, I
quickly slapped together a couple of web pages providing links to
various reports, commentaries and background materials. The
annotation of the links was terse and the formatting rudimentary. So
I was taken aback to hear one of the key players describe those web
pages as one of the two key events in the debate. It was a useful
reminder of the importance of such collections. A person with basic
skills creating web pages can make a major contribution to the public
debate. For examples, see the "Issue" items at www.paneighborhoods.org.

Last spring, several Palo Alto residents were listening to the
presentation on the City's plan to build a waste processing facility
(called the "Environmental Services Center" or ESC). They became
uncomfortable with the presentation, seeing too many comparisons of
"apples to oranges." As they pushed for better explanations, more and
more problems in the analysis emerged. The City Council wound up
directing the City Auditor (Sharon Erickson) to review the numbers
and produce a comparison of the alternatives.

One of the perpetual needs in Palo Alto is people who can take an
issue, find the portions that are relevant to normal residents and
then explain it in terms they can understand and act on. The reports
produced by staff rarely fill this need, but this is not surprising
given the origins of the current system. The old-timers tell me that
in the 1970's the Council complained to the City Manager that he
wasn't giving them enough information to make their decisions. In
response, that City Manager had staff produce reports that were
loaded with data, but he put no emphasis on organizing and filtering
that information in a way that would be useful to the decision-maker.
This organizational culture has continued to this day, largely
through inertia: There is little mentoring or other training or other
support from management for change. A string of Council members have
sought to change this and my sense is that this is going to be a
continuing battle, although it is often fought out of sight of normal
residents.

I have been attempting to improve the sharing of information between
the various neighborhood organizations with some success, but less
than I hoped. My strategy has been to provide the "kernel" resource
that then encourages others to contribute.

I would not just welcome but encourage people who would like to try
to do this for a single pending issue to coordinate with me on
expanding this facility.

Significance of the Fire
It was a spectacular blaze. Barron Park has never seen anything like
it before or since. When the 80-year old all-wood Victorian house
burned on November 29, 1936, it went up in a holocaust of flame and
smoke that attracted thrill-seekers from miles around. A lack of
response by the Palo Alto Fire Department may have been a factor in
the total destruction of the mansion: certainly, it led to bitterness
towards the city that helped defeat several subsequent annexation
attempts over the next thirty years.

A Renowned Showplace
The magnificent, rambling 3-story mansion with an octagonal
fourth-floor cupola was locally famed for its opulence (see
photograph). The first-floor veranda was almost obscured by the
luxuriant foliage of a thick-trunked wisteria vine loaded, in season,
with heavy purple blossoms. As you can see in the photograph, the
second and third floor façade was dominated by great, two-story-high
gables framed with Victorian gingerbread woodwork. There was a Victorian
entrance with lampposts on either side of the front steps and,
inside, a large vestibule with gilt-framed mirrors from Paris. A wide
staircase went up the center of the house, ending at the tower
playroom. There were at least 26 rooms-perhaps as many as 40. These
included two large dining rooms, a parlor and a billiard room. The
servants' rooms were in the two-story back wing. This was the
original "Mayfield Farm" house built by Elisha Crosby about 1856.

Sarah Wallis Built the Mansion
The main three-story mansion was built in front of the original
structure by Sarah Wallis shortly after she purchased Mayfield Farm
from Crosby in 1857. Sarah was an extraordinary person whose life
experiences read like a romantic historical novel. She walked from
Missouri to California in the first wagon train to cross the Sierra
Nevada, when California was part of Mexico. She married three times
and was deserted by her first two husbands. Her second and third
husbands were both prominent men in the Bay Area, but Sarah made her
own fortune and she was the owner of Mayfield Farm. She became one of
the most prominent suffragettes on the West Coast. Sarah sold the
mansion to Edward Barron in 1878.

Edward Barron Added to the Mansion
Barron had been an extremely successful meat-packer in one career and
then a mining company executive in a second. He retired to Mayfield
Farm and planted most of the 20-acre park of ornamental trees and
shrubs that still surrounded the mansion in 1936. A few of the trees
that he and Sarah Wallis planted survive today along South Magnolia
Drive, Military Way and La Selva Drive near El Camino Real. Barron
had the cupola built and later added a large, two-story West Wing to
house his son's family. He died in 1893 but his estate trust managed
the farm for 26 years more until it was sold to Driscoll and Reiter,
land developers, in 1919. They broke up the 350-acre farm into small
parcels for sale or lease to strawberry growers and orchardists.

The Mansion was an Administration Building
The mansion and park were bought in 1923 by Colonel Sebastian Jones
and converted by 1925 into the California Military Academy. Jones was
the man who laid out the original "Barron Park" subdivision of tiny
lots in 1925. Jones used the mansion as the school administration
building and their personal residence. The school passed through
several hands after Colonel Jones' death in 1929, and E. Allen
Rosebloom had just re-opened it as the "Interdale School for Boys"
when it burned on Thanksgiving weekend of 1936.

The Fire Started in One of the Towers
According to the San Jose Mercury Herald, Joaquin Vienna, sports
editor of the Santa Clara Journal, was driving by on the State
Highway (now El Camino) when he saw smoke pouring from an upper
window. He drove into the estate, rushed into the house, and phoned
in the fire. The caretaker, Joe Carrasao, said the crackling noise of
the flames in one of the lofty towers woke him from an afternoon nap.

Vienna phoned three fire departments-Palo Alto, Menlo Park and
Redwood City. Those three, with Moffat Naval Air Station, all
dispatched fire engines to the scene. Meanwhile, the fire began to
blaze fiercely in the tinder-dry wood structure. Chief Thomas Cuff of
Menlo Park took charge of the fire-fighting efforts when the Palo
Alto firemen refused to move their equipment beyond the city
boundary, then located 100 feet south of Wilton Avenue on the east
side of El Camino. As one old-time Barron Park resident told me in
the 1980s, "They only were there to keep the fire from spreading into
Palo Alto-they didn't give a damn what happened in Barron Park" The
truth is, the fire department was under orders from the City Council,
upon the advice of legal counsel, not to fight fires outside the city
limits, as their insurance would not cover it.

Joe Weiler was an Eyewitness
In any event, the fire-fighting was in vain, as the fire had become a
monster that was attracting attention all over the peninsula in the
late autumn afternoon that was winding down into dusk. Joe Weiler
told the story in a 1977 oral history tape taken by Ann Knopf. Joe's
family owned the Texaco Station at the Buena Vista Auto Camp, and he
later became a volunteer fireman in Barron Park. In the recording, he
told about the crowd that gathered on that eventful afternoon;

"It was on a Sunday and I was in the service station. It was just
within minutes...the thing was just horrible flame of red and fire
and everything and people started to see this, they pulled in, they
stopped in the road. They pulled into the service station. They just
jumped out of their cars and left them and they pulled into the
station and blocked the driveways and it was just a sea of cars. They
pulled in the park-at that time the center was all open. And they
pulled in and another would pull in behind it and beside it and in
front of it. There were hundreds of cars just jammed in like
sardines. So I locked my station and locked the pumps, closed the
door and went to look at the fire. It happened so fast and
everything...it was like a July Fourth celebration. It was just so
magnanimous (sic) in its size and everything. You just would stand
there in awe and see this big thing."

"Unfortunately and I hate to say this, Palo Alto was called and they
didn't respond but they did come to the end of the city limits with
one of their units...and just sat there. They wouldn't answer the
call because there was something about they wouldn't go out of their
district in those days (sic). Then the County (sic) was called and
they sent some pumpers down. They had their own water in the tanks
and they got maybe one or two of those, but they were useless,
because when you had so much heat like that, water just goes up in
steam. You would have to dump the ocean on it to douse it. Once it
got started, within a half hour's time it was beyond control as far
as saving it. A lot of people were very upset at Palo Alto and still
are today-the older people that still remember some of these things
and the children of these people who have heard their parents talk
about it."

The Swimming Pool was Pumped Dry
According to the Mercury Herald story, "When firemen were unable to
locate a water (sic) plug to which to attach their hoses...they ran a
hose into a nearby swimming pool and pumped it dry." The swimming
pool had been installed by Colonel Jones and was part the Military
Academy. During the school's summer vacation it was made available to
Barron Park residents. This was an amenity that was important in
attracting San Francisco buyers interested in buying land for a
summer cottage away from the city's famous fog. The pool is still
there, its walls forming a basement and below-ground garage for the
house at 3878 South Magnolia Drive.

Dan Baker Took Pictures
At the fire scene was a young photographer for the Palo Alto Times,
Dan Baker, who took photos of the fire (the one reprinted here may be
one of his). After the fire, the land was cleared and a subdivision,
Woodland Park was laid out. Eventually, Dan Baker bought the house at
3880 La Selva Drive, which he told me was built right where he stood
to take pictures of the fire. He lived in that house until he died,
some time in the 1990s.

A Historical Landmark Now Marks the Spot
On Saturday, October 11, 1986, California Landmark No. 969 was
dedicated on La Selva Drive at the site of the Barron-Wallis Mansion.
The dedication ceremony was co-sponsored by the Women's Heritage
Museum and the Barron Park Association. Dan Baker, then President of
the Palo Alto Historical Association was one of the honored guests.
The bronze plaque on the fieldstone monument reads;

"Homesite of Sarah Wallis-Mayfield Farm. Sarah Armstrong Wallis
(1825-1905) was a pioneer in the campaign for women's voting rights.
In 1870 she was elected President of California's first statewide
suffrage organization which in 1873 incorporated as the California
State Woman Suffrage Education Association. The home she built on
this site, Mayfield Farm, was a center of suffrage activities
attracting state and national leaders such as Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ulysses S. Grant."
The "Wallis Mansion"?
I urge all the readers of this newsletter to take a short walk down
to the historical marker. If you enjoy "what if..." speculations,
take a minute and consider what our neighborhood might be like today
if the "Barron Mansion" had never burned-what a magnificent focal
point it could have been for our neighborhood-and it might well be
known today as the "Wallis Mansion."

There has been little development on El Camino in our neighborhood
during the last several months. Emek Beracha received approval of
their Conditional Use Permit and have renovated the old Blockbuster
building into a synagogue for their congregation.

Revised plans for the proposed subdivision at 797 Matadero were
submitted to the City for review last summer. In the current
iteration the developer would like to create five lots for new
houses, where currently three lots and two houses exist. At a recent
neighborhood meeting, nearby neighbors voiced concerns about privacy,
protection of heritage oaks and the creek habitat, impact of
additional parking and traffic on Matadero, and whether the new
houses would be compatible with the neighborhood. The Planning
Commissioners agreed and recommended that approval be denied. Their
decision has been forwarded to the City Council for a final decision.

Check this column for project updates in or near Barron Park or
contact me if you have any questions about development in our
neighborhood at 493-3035, or email.

In 2004, the State of Florida got hit by four major hurricanes:
Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. Perhaps the most devastating of
these hurricanes was Ivan, which made landfall just west of Pensacola
FL the night of 15-16 September. Sustained winds around the eye of
the hurricane were 130 miles per hour, with gusts to 165 miles per
hour. Ivan's worst damage was concentrated just east of the storm's
eye in Pensacola, where winds spinning counterclockwise around the
eye pounded the coast.

One of my college classmates is a resident of coastal Pensacola,
exactly in the zone of worst damage. 33 of the 43 houses in his
neighborhood suffered damage so severe that they were condemned, and
9 additional homes were flooded. My classmate's story (posted with
his permission at
www2.bpaonline.org/Emergencyprep/experience-ivan.html) is a powerful argument for emergency
preparedness. Please read it.

My classmate and his family (including his 88-year-old ill
mother-in-law) were unhurt, and his property suffered minimal damage.
This wasn't by chance. He was aware of the potential of hurricanes
(Hurricane Camile in 1969, for example, killed 269 people in
Mississippi and caused $3.8 billion in damage; Hurricane Andrew in
1992 killed 55 people in Florida and Louisiana and caused more than
$25 million damage). He had tracked Hurricane Ivan as it spread
devastation in the Lesser Antilles (particularly Grenada), and he
correctly foresaw that Pensacola was very likely to be squarely in
Ivan's path. Accordingly, my classmate took aggressive protective
measures, he evacuated his family before the last minute, he had
multiple means of communication, and he served as a leader in helping
his neighbors, both short-term and long-term.

My classmate's experience obviously is not specifically applicable to
us in Barron Park; we don't have hurricanes. But we do have major
rainstorms with associated flooding, and we certainly live in
"earthquake country." The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there
is a 62% chance of at least one magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake
striking the San Francisco Bay region before 2032 (see
http://quake.usgs.gov). Such an earthquake, regardless of its exact
epicenter, will cause major damage throughout the Bay Area. Sobering
is the fact that the 1995 magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Kobe Japan, a
bayside urban area not unlike the San Francisco Bay Area, killed
6,000 people and caused over $100 billion in damage.

In a major earthquake, we residents of Barron Park will experience
disrupted water supplies (remember that the Hetch Hetchy water
pipeline crosses right over the Hayward Fault), absence of
electricity and gas, moderate to severe structural damage to our
residences, and a number of injuries. Governmental resources will
simply be overwhelmed, and the efforts of public agencies such as the
Palo Alto Fire Department will be directed towards facilities of
highest priority (e.g., hospitals). Community organizations such as
the Palo Alto Neighborhood Disaster Activity (PANDA; www.cityofpaloalto.org/oes/panda/)
will supplement City resources, but these volunteer personnel also
will be severely taxed in the first phases of a major disaster.
Consequently, each household in Barron Park will be on its own and
must be prepared to provide for its basic needs for several days to a
week after a major disaster. We all need to have sufficient emergency
supplies to tide us over until outside assistance becomes available
and water, electricity, and gas are restored.

Our emergency supplies should include water, food, a battery-powered
radio, and first-aid supplies. Excellent guidelines for building
emergency caches are presented in the 3rd edition of "Living with our
Faults", published in 1994 by the City of Palo Alto (
www.cityofpaloalto.org/oes/earthquake/). A wide selection of Disaster Preparedness
Kits is sold by the Palo Alto Chapter of the American Red Cross (www.paarc.org/supplies/).
Finally, more expansive analysis of the need for household emergency
preparedness can be found in the spring, summer, and fall editions of
the BPA Newsletter, archived at
www2.bpaonline.org/BP-News/index.html.

Referring back to my classmate's experience with Hurricane Ivan in
Pensacola, certainly government and relief agencies do swing into
action in response to a disaster. But their best efforts are no
substitute for personal and household preparedness. In the first few
days to a week after a disaster, each household will be on its own
and must be prepared to take care of itself.

Volunteers Available
Had a call the other day, asking if we would consider developing a
network of daily phone calls to and from neighbors. We decided it was
time to quit burying information about our services at the end of the
column, so we are moving the information right up front.
So here goes. We continue to have a group of volunteers who offer
services to Barron Park neighbors. We can:

Run an errand for you or with you.

Do small odd jobs at your home.

Stop by for a visit.

Give you a daily phone call.

You can reach Mary Jane Leon at 493-5248 or email; Julie
Spengler at 493-9151.

Computers Available Close By
We received this email from Sheila Mandoli a few days back:

"Do you know of any one in Barron Park or Palo Alto who wishes to
learn about Computers? At Ventura, the YM is providing (through a
grant from the estate of Henry Page) computers maintained in room 12.
Teenagers use them all of the time. Pari, the YM adult who supervises
them, is willing, in fact, eager, to have older people come and
learn. The teens will be volunteering their time to help. Pari thinks
the experience of relating to the elders would be invaluable. Do you
think it would be worthwhile to offer this service in the Barron Park
newsletter?"
Do we??? What a great opportunity! And so close! Contact Sheila
Mandoli at 493-9180 for details.

An Urge to Write?
Sometimes my brain seems to go on vacation right when it is time to
write this column. Is anyone out there interested in doing a guest
column sometime? Or do you have an idea that you would like us to
explore? A paragraph that you want to contribute? We would love to
hear from you.

Booklets Available
We have available brand new editions of two booklets directed toward
seniors. They are:

New Lifestyles, which is an area guide to senior residences
and care options.

Living Well 2005, a Resource Guide for Active Adults 50 and
Over, which is published yearly by the Palo Alto Weekly, and
covers such topics as health services, recreational activities,
classes, home services, and planning for now and later.

If you would like to have a copy of either or both of these booklets,
or if you have friends or neighbors who would like them, please let
me know. You can pick them up at my place, or if you give me your
street address, I will drop them at your front door.

Quotes
First, a thought from, of all places, a Dear Abby column: "Attempting
to drive yourself or a loved one to a hospital in an emergency is a
bad idea. ...When you dial 911, paramedics bring the emergency room
to your home....The biggest delay in receiving prompt care is delay
in calling 911. (In the case of a heart attack), the more time you
waste the more the heart muscle is damaged."

From the AARP Bulletin, September 2004: "The big drug
companies spend at least twice as much on 'marketing and
administration' as on research."

Group Lunch Time
We had our holiday lunch December 14, again at Su Hong. People
enjoyed it so much in October that we decided to go back. Next one
will be the second Tuesday in February. If you are not on our list
and would like to come, just let us know. Or if you have suggestions
for a place to go for lunch, let us know. We want to go places that
you like.

This is the sixth in a series of articles introducing the community
volunteers devoted to the care, feeding, and parental nurturing of
the Barron Park donkeys, Miner Forty-Niner (Niner) and Pericles
(Perry). Niner and Perry are the most recent in a long line of
donkeys that have become a neighborhood institution in Barron Park
over the years.

Our neighborhood's trademark donkeys are cared for entirely by
volunteers from Barron Park and the surrounding community. In
addition to feeding the boys twice a day, keeping their corral and
shed clean and orderly, taking them for occasional walks, and
bringing them out to meet the neighbors in Bol Park every Sunday
morning, these volunteers also pick up and deliver loads of hay, make
sure the donkeys receive regular attention from the vet and the
farrier (horse shoe-er), and keep them clean and well curried. Read
on, to meet more of the terrific crew that cares for the Barron Park
donkeys!

Chuck Katz
Chuck grew up in the Boston area, and received his undergraduate and
graduate degrees in mechanical engineering from Princeton. After
working for several years as a research engineer in the field of
combustion and pollution control, Chuck decided (for reasons still
unclear to him) to attend law school.

At law school, Chuck met his lovely wife Gina, who is now employed as
senior counsel for HP. Chuck currently works as intellectual property
counsel for the Scientific Instruments Division of Thermo Electron
Corp. in San Jose, which makes mass spectrometers for the life and
laboratory sciences industries.

Chuck and Gina moved to the Bay Area in 1997 and to their present
home on Barron Avenue in 1999. This past May they were joined by
their handsome and talented son Mathew, who is a big fan of Niner and
Perry. Chuck and his family have always enjoyed saying hello to the
boys when walking in Bol Park, and they appreciate the semi-rural and
eccentric character that the donkeys lend to our neighborhood. So
Chuck jumped at the chance to become a donkey handler, a position he
has occupied since this past July. He relishes the noisy reception he
gets when he arrives to feed Niner and Perry, and he's getting used
to the head butts that Niner gives him when he thinks Chuck isn't
moving quickly enough.

Chuck's primary non-donkey interests are hanging out with his family
and catching up on his sleep debt. In addition, he enjoys movies,
reading, boogie-boarding, biking, gardening and generally avoiding
hard work.

Tasha Brooks
Tasha grew up in North Palo Alto, graduated from Mid Peninsula High
in1988 and moved north to Sonoma County to attend Sonoma State
University. Tasha moved back to Palo Alto, settling in Barron Park
with twin daughters in 2000. She fell in love with Barron Park's
rural atmosphere while exploring the area by car. A Google search
brought up the BPA online, and between the donkeys and the grassroots
community spirit, this was the only choice in neighborhoods for her
family.

Tasha has worked with animals most of her life, from volunteering at
the local shelter in her youth to grooming dogs professionally
through her college years. She received her BA in liberal studies
just after the birth of her twins. Annie and Jordan, now in second
grade at Barron Park Elementary School, are "old hands" when it comes
to caring for animals. Helping with fostering and bottle feeding
orphaned kittens and doing pet sitting for the neighbors are just a
couple of the things that have prepared the girls for their role in
caring for the Donkeys. Tasha is currently working as an animal
handler with local trainer Sarah Westbrook through Piccadilly Pets, a
retail store downtown in Palo Alto.

Barron Park Holiday Party and Donkey Parade 12/18-Rain or Shine
The Gunn High School Chamber Singers will be featured in the fourth
annual caroling parade through the Barron Park neighborhood starting
at 2:30 pm Saturday, December 18. Festivities will begin at Bol Park
(corner of Laguna and Matadero), and honored parade participants will
be the community's famous donkeys, Perry and Niner.

Parents, grandparents, kids, teenagers, bikes, scooters, strollers,
rollerblades, and pets are welcome! After the procession through the
neighborhood, refreshments (including cookies home baked by the
Barron Park Seniors group and other neighbors) will be served at
Barron Park Elementary School at about 3:15 pm. At the party there
will be a special performance by the Gunn Chamber Singers. For more
information call Don Anderson at 494-8672 or email.

There are plans for four speed bumps or "tables" in Barron Park but
we don't know for sure if, how many, or what type, since the City
Traffic Commission hasn't met on this yet.

Maybell will soon see some improvements to put emphasis on
bicycle/pedestrian safety. Therehas been a significant increase in
the amount of traffic in a 24 hour period over the last few years.
Much of this is due to school traffic in the early morning hours but
there has also been an increase in "cut-through" traffic. These
measures are designed to discourage "cut-through" traffic and slow
the vehicle traffic. In mid December a neighborhood meeting was held
to review suggestions made by the city and a small representative
committee made up of residents living on or near Maybell and school
representatives. Gayle Likens, a city of Palo Alto traffic engineer,
is leading this project which will be funded by a grant. For more
details about this project, contact Will Beckett at 494-6922

Surviving the Remodel  One Family's Experience
You're planning to live there during your remodel? That should be...
memorable," laughed my friend after I mentioned our upcoming project.
Previously, whenever I spoke of our remodel plans to friends, other
words such as, "delays," "dust," and "divorce," were mentioned.
Little did I know how many times that word, "memorable," would be
used to describe our remodel experience. I'd like to share some of
those memorable moments and offer a few suggestions for living
through a remodeling project.

What started out as a simple solution to our (lack of) space problem
ultimately turned into an 800 sq. ft. addition, which included two
new bedrooms, two bathrooms and some changes to existing rooms. I'm a
SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) with two small children. My husband operates
his own business and occasionally needs to work at home. We tried to
get along in our 1300 sq. ft. space, but there were a few tense times
as we were literally tripping over each other. After looking into
buying another home in Barron Park, we found it made more sense for
us to add onto our current home. We met with our architect a few
times and she not only created an impressive plan to efficiently
expand our living space, she also made it look cool.

We investigated the idea of renting a place during the project, but
decided to live on site after postponing the kitchen remodel. After
all, "It'll be like camping," we told ourselves. So there it was, we
were going to live among the dust and noise for six months (if
everything was on schedule) and share one bathroom as well as a
transient living space. One positive aspect to this approach is that
someone is always on site to address construction issues, which can
help keep the project on schedule.

The first part of the project involved destruction, which my older
son particularly enjoyed watching. Soon enough, the foundation
drilling started, which was a rude awakening. Not only did the noise
sound like an intermittent jet engine, the vibrations were strong
enough to rattle our light fixtures. However, a very nasty side
effect occurred with all the drilling and digging around the existing
foundation... fleas. Fortunately, the fleas affected only one person,
but it was disgusting to have a flea infestation on top of the other
inconveniences. With an open crawlspace, seemingly every neighborhood
cat would play underneath our house. We'd occasionally hear some
strange scratching noises underneath the house at night and hope it
was only a cat.

After a month, the noise and ever-present workers became an expected
part of our day and on weekends we missed them. Not really!
Eventually, the dust and noise of the initial phase of the remodel
soon become mere background processes. After a few months into the
project, my husband came down with a fever/flu. At this point, the
only room that hadn't been part of the remodel project was the living
room. Where do you go to rest in such an unfriendly environment?
Fortunately, our boys already had a small tent set up in the living
room, so my husband slept in that tent for the entire day. It made
sense because he was undisturbed by and distanced from the chaos.
However, I had to chuckle whenever I looked at that colorful little
tent in our living room with my husband inside of it. He was
literally camping out in our living room.

Another memorable moment was the early September rain this year. The
roof of our house wasn't yet installed. While cooking breakfast, I
looked up and noticed a puddle of water in the kitchen light fixture.
After looking around the house, we noticed drips coming from several
light fixtures. Just as we lifted the phone to call our contractor,
he arrived to cover the open areas with a tarp. The water drips were
coming from run-off from the attic joists, so the leaks weren't too
extensive. But the puddle in the kitchen light fixture was
reminiscent of a certain Three Stooges episode.

Smells are another part of any remodel project. There are the usual
smells of elements associated with a remodel, but we experienced a
more organic smell. Because our garage area had been open for part of
the project, our friendly neighborhood cats would often freely roam
around the site. One kind-hearted cat left us a token (dead rodent?)
in our garage. The problem is we can't find the token. We smell it,
but it's hidden somewhere underneath all the fixture boxes and
construction materials. This smell has been in our garage for over a
month and thankfully, the scent is waning.

Another component of remodeling is water flow. There were some days
when the plumbers would arrive and give a two-minute warning that the
water would be turned off for the day. I'd often get more than
two-minutes, but it was still something that made a change in the
day. Hot water could also be an issue. I remember that feeling of
dread after my younger son became ill with a stomach virus and I
realized we had no hot water. This incident was probably the most
miserable of the entire project because I had a child who needed a
bath, but no hot water. I ended up boiling water in a kettle and
slowly adding it to the cold bath water. Yes, "just like camping,"
except I also had soiled laundry that needed to be washed sooner,
rather than later. Our next-door neighbor was so helpful and it was
the one bright spot in a bad situation.

We're presently beyond the drywall installation and sanding phase.
Everyone who's ever gone through a remodel will tell you that this is
the worst part of the project and they're right. One Sunday, my
husband spent over seven hours transforming our living room into our
central living space. The rest of the rooms were going to be sanded,
in addition to the new part of the house. I was grateful to my
husband for setting up curtain dividers to make it like a room within
a room and I told our children it'd be "Camp Daiuto". My older son
looked at me and said, "Mom, it's like a hotel, but it's a 'home-tel'
because it's a hotel inside of our home." Such a logical explanation
and a five-year-old figured it out. Confidentially, I found it
endearing that my son could sound so positive about this "home-tel"
in our living room where we'd be sleeping and living for the next six
weeks. It's been over a month now and we're still living in our
"home-tel."

As I luxuriously lounge in our "home-tel," I've had the opportunity
to suggest the following strategies for getting through a remodel
project:

Hire the best help. Sounds obvious, but after hearing so many
negative remodel stories, this was our priority. So, ask for
recommendations from people whose homes you like. Our architect asked
important questions up front and created a design we were thrilled
with. When choosing contractors, it's best to investigate no more
than three. After three, it becomes geometrically more complicated.
Also, check the state's Web site (
www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/default.asp) to confirm a contractor's
license status.

Post your plans in a central part of your house. This way, when
the going gets tough, you can at least look at what it's going to
look like when it's finished. In the midst of the noises, dust and
the infinite decisions you'll be faced with, keeping a mental picture
of the finished product in your mind's eye really helps keep your
focus on the goal.

Try to maintain your routines. At least, this will be one fairly
consistent aspect of your life during the remodel. Miraculously, my
sons were able to keep taking naps during most of the project.

Get away for a few days. I was fortunate to have been able to
take the boys to Half Moon Bay for a few days during the week while
the drywall was going up. Sadly, the thing I most noticed during our
trip was how nice it was to sleep somewhere that didn't have a fine
layer of dust over everything.

Also, it helps to have good neighbors. We are fortunate to have
wonderful neighbors who tolerated our construction noise and were so
helpful to our family during this project. In particular, we have a
dear neighbor who allowed us to park in his driveway the entire
project and helped us in many ways.

There will be days when you feel as if you're living in a humongous
laundry hamper or the dust, smells and noises are just getting to
you. But I'm here to report that you can and will get through it if
you keep focused on the finished product. As for our project, I'm
happy to say there haven't been major delays or cost overruns and
there's no pending divorce. I think back to what my friend said about
this being a "memorable" experience and have to agree.

In September 1992 there was a major outbreak of graffiti throughout
Palo Alto, and particularly along school routes in Barron Park. This
apparently was caused by a combination of a movie that glorified
gangs and graffiti, and an outbreak of gang-related graffiti all over
Palo Alto and nearby vicinities. Bob Moss began cleaning and removing
the graffiti from hundreds of locations-signs, lamp posts, trash
cans, walls, walks, mail boxes, etc. In January 1993 he made a formal
presentation to the City Council during oral communications to
apprise them of the problem, and to urge the City to take an active
role in removing graffiti, particularly that which was gang-related.
The Council and staff did not respond at first, but after repeated
requests, including examples of graffiti removal kits, and photo
displays of badly defaced locations which had been cleaned, staff
agreed to establish and fund a graffiti removal office, and the City
Council appropriated funds to support
graffiti abatement. The BPA supported this effort by agreeing to pay
for graffiti removal supplies such as solvents and paint. This
support from the City and BPA continues currently.

In January 1994 the City Council passed a formal resolution
recognizing Bob Moss for his outstanding efforts at graffiti removal.
His efforts also have been recognized by the San Jose Mercury News,
San Francisco Chronicle, and KCBS.

In the past twelve years Bob has removed over 9500 tags all over Palo
Alto, plus some in neighboring cities such as Mountain View and Los
Altos. He still is an active graffiti removal volunteer, devoting
several hours each month to keeping our community cleaner and better,
free of graffiti. The amount and incidence of graffiti has gone down
significantly in the past year. The last major incident was over
Memorial Day weekend when 5 huge tags were put up covering entire
walls on businesses along El Camino. They were all removed or painted
over in less than 48 hours. Apparently rapid removal of graffiti does
discourage taggers and keeps the area cleaner. Bob can be reached at
email.

Rev up your running shoes! The ninth annual Juana Run is scheduled
for Saturday, February 26, 2005. The 8K starts at 8:30am and the kid
races have staggered start times throughout the morning. The 1-mile
run immediately follows the kid races. In what has blossomed into the
most effective fundraiser for the two Barron Park neighborhood
schools' PTA, this winter ritual also has us running the streets of
our beloved neighborhood with our neighbors! Can you beat that for
community building? To register, go to www.juanarun.org. Volunteers are
definitely needed!! If you can help, please contact race founder and
director, Karen Saxena. She can be e-mailed from the website or leave
a message for her on the race hotline: (650) 599-3434. The race also
needs publicity, if you can hang a few flyers at your company's gym
or running club, contact Karen. This is a very effective way for you
to support your local PTA!!

Membership Confirmation
It is easy to loose track of what e-mail lists you are subscribed to
and under what address. It is not uncommon to inadvertently drop off
a list because you subscribed under a former address and messages are
no longer being forwarded from there to your new address. As list
maintainer, I try to identify the resident associated with a dead
email account and notify them, but it is often hard to do because the
login names are too disconnected from real names.

To deal with this problem, it is a common practice to send out
periodic reminders. The BPA does this annually in conjunction with
this issue of the newsletter. Shortly before this issue is expected
to arrive in your mail box, a message is sent to each member of each
mailing list confirming their membership on that list. For example,
if you are subscribed to each of bpa-news, bpa and bpa-misc, you will
receive three messages, one for each list. If you have not received a
message for a list that you thought that you were subscribed to,
please resubscribe.

The BPA Lists
To review the purposes of the various BPA e-mail lists, go to www.bpaonline.org and click on
the button BPA Email Lists. Note: These lists reject long
messages-currently anything over 20,000 characters-as a means to
block a large class of SPAM messages. However, you can run afoul this
limit if you attach a photo or if you compose a message with various
fonts. See the above page for more detail.

SPAM and AOL
From time to time, the AOL SPAM filters decide to block e-mail from
the BPA lists. I have no similar problems with any other ISP
(Internet Service Provider). For an overview of these problems, visit
www.dougmoran.com/Admin/aol-problem-overview.html

Request: If a piece of SPAM slips through the SPAM filters for the
BPA lists, please do NOT click the button for "This is SPAM" because
a few instances of this may blacklist all of the BPA lists for
yourself, and possibly for all customers of your ISP (I say "may"
because it is extremely difficult to find out even roughly why a site
gets blacklisted). This situation occurs because SPAMmers routinely
forge the address for the origin of the message, and one trick is to
list the originator as simply relaying the message from an uninvolved
third party. Hence, ISPs cannot distinguish actual relays (such as
the BPA lists) from SPAMmers using this trick.

Support for Perry and Niner comes completely from the generosity of
their neighbors and the community. The donkeys receive no tax
dollars, no government funds, no funds from the City of Palo Alto, no
grants from any animal welfare or humane organization. They are a
part of the neighborhood simply because people who live here care
about them and care about continuing this unique opportunity. In
return, Perry and Niner provide warmth and joy to those who walk by
their pasture; a rural equine experience for suburban children and
adults who visit them on Sundays in Bol Park; an opportunity for
humane education for children in Barron Park Schools; and a general
reaffirmation for all of us of our connection to the natural world.

General farrier and veterinary expenses for the donkeys total about
$1,000 a year. Food costs about $600 a year. Funds for the donkeys
are managed by Acterra (formerly the Peninsula Conservation Center
Foundation), which acts as fiscal agent for the Donkey Project,
providing insurance and handling donations and financial affairs.
Fees for these administrative services totaled about $200 this past
year. All of these expenses are funded solely through donations.

All those who care about Perry and Niner seek to guarantee their
proper on-going care and shelter, as well as to ensure that assets
will be available for health concerns as the donkeys age. For this
reason, it is imperative that more assets be added to the donkey's
fund than are being spent for their general care on an annual basis.
The handlers hope that those generous neighbors who have contributed
in the past will consider increasing their support this year, and
that those who have not yet made a contribution to the donkeys will
consider doing so now. Contributions for the donkey's care may be
sent to: The Palo Alto Donkey Project, ACTERRA (Action for a
Sustainable Earth), 3921 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303-4303.

For further information about making a contribution on behalf of the
donkeys, or if you would like information about how to become one of
the volunteer donkey handlers, please call Don Anderson at 494-8672
or email.

Curiosity, passion and endless interests filled the deep heart and
wide life of Arthur E. Bayce, who quietly left this earth at the age
of 80, on the 7th of October. A professor, scientist, consultant,
photographer, author, volunteer, guide and tinkerer, Art loved the
science, nature and art of the many seasons and fruits of this world.
Survived by countless lifelong friends, cousins, two goddaughters,
students, neighbors as close as kin, it is clear that Art was deeply
loved and led a rich life threaded with fantastic relationships. His
unconditional love and honest interest in others' well being made him
a rare and fantastic individual.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Slovene and Italian parents, Art grew up
in Oakland and resided in California since the age of nine. Art
attended UC Berkeley, earning his BS in Chemistry and an MS in
Metallurgy. He then earned an MA in Education at San Jose State. Art
was a chemist at Colgate for many years, and a metallurgist at the
Stanford Research Institute, then an associate professor in the
Materials Engineering Department at San Jose State University before
retiring in 1991.

Joining the Barron Park Association Board in his neighborhood in
1964, Art served on the board as Traffic Chair for eight years,
formed the Emergency Preparedness Committee in 1982 and contributed
to Living with our Faults (which was distributed in various cities
throughout California), supported the ToxSafe Committee, the Creek
Committee, and represented his neighborhood on two Blue Ribbon
committees of the City of Palo Alto. He was a member of the Citizen
Advisory committee, and was appointed by the City Manager to the
committee that revised Palo Alto's Disaster Preparedness Management
Plan.

In a letter to a friend regarding his mother's death, Art wrote that
he was thankful for all that his mother taught him. He learned from
her kindness the importance of helping others, and giving back to
society. His philosophy was that if he could enrich the lives of
those around him, it would serve as a tribute to all she had done for
him. Art lived a selfless, energetic life.

A Celebration of the Life of Art Bayce was held on December 19th at
2:30 PM, in the Fireside Room of the Unitarian Universalist Church of
Palo Alto, 505 E. Charleston Road. In honor of his 40 years of
service to his neighborhood, the Barron Park Association Board is
graciously planting a tree in Bol Park in Art's memory. Donations in
Art's name may be made to the Sierra Club, Habitat for Humanity and
the Barron Park Association.